El Dorado High students, vets gather to honor service
A Boy Scout presents Marine veteran Bernie Robertson with flowers during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Robertson’s son, Marine Staff Sgt. William Harrell, is one of three former EDHS students honored at the Fallen Heroes Memorial on campus.
Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Navy veteran Lynn Bennick signs a poster at the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Boy Scouts raise the flag during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
ASB President Emma Kim speaks during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Gustavo Ramos, left, salutes with other service members during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Boy Scouts escort service members to their seats during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
El Dorado High School students listen as Taps is played during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Army veteran Don Ward salutes during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A Boy Scout presents Marine veteran Bernie Robertson with flowers during the 11th annual El Dorado Fallen Heroes Ceremony at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA on Thursday, November 9, 2023. Robertson’s son, Marine Staff Sgt. William Harrell, is one of three former EDHS students honored at the Fallen Heroes Memorial on campus.
Veterans and active duty service members gathered for a roll call and to honor the three former EDHS students who died while serving. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
El Dorado High students took a break from the books Thursday for an in-person history lesson honoring veterans who served their country.
Veterans and active duty members of the military gathered for a roll call in a courtyard of the campus and there were student and veteran speakers and a tribute to Marine Cpl. Claudio Patiño IV, Staff Sgt. William Harrell and Army Sgt. Jason M. Weaver, three Golden Hawks who died while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The early Veterans Day remembrance was started by an El Dorado student more than a decade ago. For an Eagle Scout project, Andrew Binnings lead the construction of a memorial on the campus to honor the three alumni of the Placentia high school. The accompanying ceremony because a campus tradition and welcomes veterans in the community each year.
It was Binnings’ father, Kenny Binnings, who got retired Army Master Sgt. Don Ward, a veteran of the Vietnam War, involved this year for the first time. Binnings also got Ward, after many years of asking, to participate in 2022 and again last month in the honor convoy that has become part of Placentia’s Heritage Festival and Parade.
That experience of having people salute him and thank him for his service “changed my life,” Ward said. “I brought my uniforms back out again.”
And the reception he received from the students and the El Dorado community on Thursday? “It makes what we fought for worth it,” Ward said. “I can’t say much more than that. This is what we fought for … to see the young people be active in this, to really understand this and know what it is all about.”
“For the veterans it is to help them understand there are people who still care,” Ward said. “That they are not alone.”
